Don’t forget the fundraising event at St Mary’s, Purton, on 9 November, especially if you’re a history buff….

St Mary’s Purton

Here is the following update from Dave Nettleton-

“A reminder that on 9 November 2017 at 7.30 pm Dr Jonathan Foyle is coming to Purton for a fundraising evening for the repair of the Chancel roof. The title of his talk, to be given at St Mary’s Church Purton, will describe the meaning behind medieval symbolism and building.

Jonathan is an award winning presenter of history programmes on television. His programmes include Climbing Great Buildings, Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer, People’s Palaces: Civic Architecture in the North and Hidden House Histories. He has even appeared on the One Show!

Jonathan is uniquely qualified to teach us about the architecture of St Mary’s as the author of books on church architecture: Lincoln Cathedral: The Biography of a Great Building and Architecture of Canterbury Cathedral.

If history is not really your thing, just come to be entertained. The University of Cambridge International Summer Schools describe his talks as follows: Excellent preparation, command of subject, fun, good use of media, very professional, good pace and extremely interesting content.

Free tickets are available for this event on at www.eventbrite.co.uk. Just search for Dr J Foyle once you’re logged in. Tickets will also be available on the door.

This event has been organised to help raise funds towards the £18,000 target that the PCC of St Mary’s must find towards the repair of the Chancel roof and we look forward to your generous support through a retiring collection . The balance of the £140,000 cost of the repair is coming from grants and the Church Commissioners.

The evening will include projected images of the bells of St Mary’s as they are rung and also refreshments. Please remember that parking is limited at St Mary’s so if you come by car please park carefully.”

Lydiard Millicent looks likely not to be classed as a Higher Risk Area (“HRA”) when the restrictions on avian flu are reviewed on 28th February.

DEFRA has still to make a final decision on its policy, and is monitoring the situation carefully. The current restrictions, which mean that all poultry has to be kept under cover, continue until 28 February. However, according to guidance published today, it is likley that, after that date, there will be different levels of control across the country.

Poultry-keepers in an HRA will have to continue to house indoors, or keep their flocks separate from wild birds by the use of netted pens, cages, avaries or runs. Whilst the risk of infection with the H5N8 virus remains significant across the country, from 28 February, those in non-HRA areas, may allow their flocks access to enclosed outdoor areas, provided they have taken certain precautions to minimise the risk of contamination from wild birds. Full guidance can be found on DEFRA’s website.

EU legislation allows for a period of up twelve weeks of indoor housing before birds lose their free-range status. That period comes to an end on 28 February, so birds that continue to be housed indoors, for example, because they are in an HRA, can no longer be marketed as free-range. In non-HRAs, allowing flocks access to enclosed outdoor areas should allow them to retain free-range status.

In contrast to Lydiard, Swindon and areas to the north, including Purton Stoke and Cricklade, will be within an HRA, where the stricter controls apply. (The map to the righthand above shows the nearby HRAs shaded pink).

Risk depends upon a number of factors, primarily the flight paths of migratory birds and proximity to large areas of water where ducks, geese and gulls congregrate.

Whilst good news for local backyard flocks and small-holders, DEFRA still stress the need to practise good biosecurity and to monitor their birds’ health carefully.

Highways England and the Police closed both slip roads Thursday morning, following a gas leak near Spittleborough. Local residents were advised to stay indoors and keep windows closed.

Traffic initially diverted largely to Hook Street, a single-track road. However, police subsequently closed this route to clear it after it had become impassable. Throughout the day, Hook Street was closed, opened, and partially closed in one direction to allow traffic to flow from Swindon to Bassett. Whilst open in one direction only, it was reported to be taking 45 minutes to pass. Tempers became frayed as HVGs, buses and and vehicles clogged the narrow road, passing places, and prevented residents from entering or leaving their properties.

Police suggested Hook Street, a single-track road, may not be the best alternative route to take. As the M4 slip roads and Churchill roundabout remained closed, they advised motorists to “find alterntative routes”, and directed them to drive through Greatfield, and Lydiard Millicent, to reach Swindon.

Wales & West Utilities worked hard through the day, and early evening, to repair the broken pipe.

A spokesman for Wales & West initially said that the damage had been caused by a “third party” and was unable to say whether there was any connection to the M4 Junction 16 works currently being carried out, and scheduled to be ongoing until Spring 2018.

However, this morning, Bill Frost, Wales & West Utilities Senior Operational Manager for Swindon said the damaged had been caused by contractors working for the local authority near Junction 16. He urged “anybody planning to work on the public highway or private land to please dial before they dig and contact our Plant Protection team to check the location of our gas pipes before they start work.”

Lydiard Tregoz Parish Council unanimously decided to continue their support for Taylor Wimpey’s controversial planning application to build 48 new homes in Lydiard Park.

Tregoz Parish Council allocated five minutes for Kevin Fisher, spokesperson for the Lydiard Heritage Action Group, to address their meeting yesteday evening. A further five minutes was allocated for councillors to ask questions, although in reality the debate lasted slightly longer, continuing for several minutes after the Tregoz egg-timer had gone off.

Mr Fisher asked Tregoz Parish Council to reconsider their decision to back the Taylor Wimpey application in view of the overwhelming objections to the proposals. (Of 601 representation letters, just two people had written in support. Robert Buckland and James Gray MP were against the proposals, as were Lydiard Millicent Parish Council and Swindon Borough Council).

However, the Tregoz Parish Council Chairman said he thought Mr Fisher was being “very presumptious” in his request. It was not Mr Fisher’s place to try to talk the Parish Council out of a decision they had made at the last Parish Council meeting, and his attitude was “disgraceful.”

Mr Fisher explained that he, and a lot of other people, were struggling to understand the reasons behind Tregoz’s support for the application. That was the rationale behind his requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act. It should be seen as a data gathering exercise, and he refuted suggestions made at the meeting that he was accusing councillors of any impropriety. He offered to put the correspondence on Shaw Residents Association’s website so that people could make up their own minds.

Tregoz Parish Council also took issue with the report which appeared in the Swindon Advertiser concerning their decision. According to one councillor, “blatant lies” had been published. Legal action was also mentioned. The Chairman of the Parish Council said he had raised this issue with the Swindon Advertiser, and was disappointed in the stance they had taken.

Mr Fisher said that Lydiard Tregoz Parish Council risked endorsing “the first and most significant domino” in the destruction of the rural buffer. Taylor Wimpey’s application, if granted, would pave “the way for the subsequent development of all the land west of Swindon up to and including Hook village.”

However, Lydiard Tregoz refuted this, maintaining that the gifted land from Taylor Wimpey would provide a valuable buffer between Swindon and the surrounding villages.

Lydiard Millicent “have missed a trick by not grabbing it with both hands,” one councillor said, referring to the proposed gift from Taylor Wimpey.

Mr Fisher did not accept this. He said that the land offered was unlikley to ever be built on because of its heritage status and the risk of flooding. In effect, Taylor Wimpey would be giving nothing of any value away. However, if they were successful on this sensitive location, then they could be confident they would be successful elsewhere. The buffer between Swindon and the villages to the west would then be open to development. Hence, his use of the term domino-effect.

The “gift” land in question is shown in the sketch above. It covers some fields to the south and west of Lydiard Millicent, but leaves open the possibility of developers moving in on land on the other side of Tewkesbury Way and Holborn. One area between Lydiard Stud and the Mews is already the subject of an application by Custom Land for up to 60 new homes.

One Tregoz Councillor said the Taylor Wimpey houses would meet their parish’s housing needs. They were constrained elsewhere in the parish because of the risk of flooding. However, objectors to Taylor Wimpey’s proposals maintain that the proposed development would increase the risk of flooding to Spencer Close and other areas.

Lydiard Tregoz said that they had left the New V Neighbourhood because other parishes were doing so and they could better further their residents’ interests by going it alone. They refuted any suggestion that their departure had been because of conditions imposed by Taylor Wimpey on the gifted land.

(In the main body of the meeting, it was explained that the draft neighbourhood plan would not be available for Mr Fisher’s FOIA request as it was still in draft).

The question and answer time concluded with the councillors unanimously agreeing to continue their support for the development, and the Chairman telling Mr Fisher, “You have your answer there. You can’t keep repeating stuff.”

Wiltshire Police warned pranksters against copying the US craze of dressing up as Killer Clowns.

The current craze originated in the US, but has rapidly spread across the Atlantic, thanks largely to postings on YouTube and other social media sites.

Dressed as demonic clowns (with more than a nudging homage to Stephen King’s Pennywise and Heath Ledger’s Joker), the pranksters jump out as unsuspecting members of the public to scare them. In a more sinister twist, there have been reports of clowns carrying baseball bats and knives, and deliberately targetting school children.

No so-called Killer Clowns have been spotted in Lydiard yet. However, there have been sightings in Pinehurst, Swindon, Cricklade and Wootton Bassett. At the Week End, police were called as a man dressed as a clown wearing shorts stalked a couple of young women in Wootton Bassett

Wiltshire Police issued the following statement:

“We would like to remind people intent on engaging in this type of behaviour that your actions can cause fear and anxiety to people which could lead to public order offences being committed. In turn, this could lead to a criminal record.

Please think about your actions carefully. Any reports of offences committed will be fully investigated.”

At one level, the recent spate of Clown related activity may evoke a wry smile. However, there is a more serious and disturbing side. The activity diverts police attention from potentially more serious crimes. Children, and some adults, have been left traumatised by the clowns, some of whom have been more intimidating than comic. There is also the risk that the “pranks” could become a front for physical attacks and other crimes, the perpetrators using their disguises to instill fear and confer anonymity.

Although the recent clown craze appear to have a US origin, clown sightings in the UK predate the current wave. In 2013, University Student and budding film maker, Alex Powell, was outed as the Northampton Clown. Powell’s motivation remains unclear. Despite provoking a number of death threats and spawning his own antithesis, the Clown Catcher, he claimed he just wanted to amuse people. A little later, in November 2013, an unsigned folk band claimed they were behind the so-called Lincoln Clown, who made regular appearances peering through the windows of that city’s burghers.

This time, there seems to be a more macarbe twist.

Even that master of horror, and the creator of Pennywise, is calling time. After a series of Donald Trump/clown tweets, Stephen King sensed the zeitgeist had gone too far. “Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria–most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh,” he tweeted.

Halloween, always a good time for the local crazies to demand money with menaces, is fast approaching. If clowns are your thing, please consider staying indoors this year. The old, the young and vulnerable may not share your sense of humour.

If you don’t want any trick or treaters this year (including the inevitable spate of clowns), consider downloading a poster to put in your window on 31st October. If you have an elderly or vulnerable neighbour, why not offer them one. The Wiltshire Police link no longer seems to be working, but this one from Somerset Police should do the job.

If it’s not the weather, then it’s property. An English man’s home may be his castle, but it’s also spawned a particularly British obsession. And whereas the Lydiard Millicent Housing Needs Survey didn’t get much press coverage, a local property currently on the market with Humberts has captured the popular imagination.

The Old Rectory in Church Place has featured in the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald, The Times and The Daily Mail. The latter headlined its piece Melinda Manor, and focused on the house’s previous owner, former glamour model and TV presenter, Melinda Messenger.

Messenger and her then husband, Wayne Roberts, renovated The Old Rectory in 2004. At the time, the property was used as offices, and known as Pembroke House. Messenger and her young family lived at The Old Rectory for about a year before turning their attentions to another property, this time in Lower Wanborough, Applegate House. Shortly afterwards, they sold Applegate House and moved to Berkshire.

In both cases, the subsequent owners redecorated and carried out extensive work, leaving their own mark on the properties. However, so far as some sections of the British Press are concerned, the houses are still steeped in their celebrity allure. Whilst it would be premature to anticipate the addition of a blue plaque anytime soon, The Old Rectory is not without historical interest in its own right.

Indeed, The Old Rectory is one of the grandest properties in Lydiard Millicent. It occupies a central place in the village, albeit one that is discreetly hidden behind honey-stone walls and luscious hedging. Situated in the middle of Lydiard Millicent’s conservation area, it is a Grade II listed property. Built in 1855, by Rev. Christopher Cleobury, it was designed by Hardwicke of Gloucester (a close friend of Turner and most famous for his Doric Euston Arch at Euston Station).

Although called The Old Rectory, it is not the original rectory. The first rectory was situated immediately south of Butts Lane, in what is now the school playing field, close to the pond near the current rectory. However, by the nineteenth century, the original rectory had fallen into disrepair, its state being described as “ruinous”.

From the early eighteenth century until Cleobury’s appointment in 1853, the living of All Saints had been held in plurality, ministered by a succession of non-resident clergy. This, no doubt, contributed to the sorry state of affairs.

Plans for a new rectory first surfaced in 1807, when Dr Warneford, Cloebury’s predecessor, purchased the living. Warneford was a well-known philosopher and philantropist, and a wealthy man too. During his incumbency of Lydiard Millicent, he was also rector of Bourton on the Hill, an honoury canon at Gloucester Cathedral and one of the founder trustees of the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum.

As soon as Warneford saw the state of the rectory in Lydiard, he vowed to rebuild it.

However, things don’t always go according to plan. Warneford never moved to Lydiard, and he never rebuilt the rectory.

Although Warneford remained All Saints’ rector for over forty years, he preferred to stay in Bourton. There he lived, in his other rectory, with his five servants, until his death 38 years later. Rather than going to the trouble of ministering to his parishioners himself, he came to an arrangement with a neighbouring cleric. For a stipend of £100, Rev. Hugh Allan, from St Mary’s in Cricklade, agreed to ride over and conduct essential services in Lydiard.

Nobody knows for sure why Warneford eschewed Lydiard. Possibly, the locals were too recalcitrant for his liking. Things had not got off to a good start. Looking to the parish to fund his plans for a new rectory, Warneford had proposed raising the tithe. However, local farmers objected vociferously to his plans, pointing out that his predecessor had only just raised the tithe, and they weren’t in the mood for more taxation.

So Warneford never moved into the rectory, which continued to be occupied by a tenant farmer until it fell into disuse.

Unfortunately, it was not only the rectory which suffered during Warneford’s term. Disinterested in Lydiard, he also allowed the church building to deteriorate. The Vestry (the predecessor of the parochial parish church council) tried to raise funds through public subscription, but once again the villagers resisted. Eventually, the Lord of the Manor and the Vestry applied enough pressure, and Warneford agreed to make a contribution.

However, it was too little, too late, even by nineteenth century standards. The Bishop intervened, and persuaded Pembroke College, the living’s patron to take action. Perhaps influenced by the waves of anti-clericalism sweeping the country, the College finally agreed to appoint a resident incumbent. In 1853, Cleobury replaced the 89-year old Warneford.

Little is known about Cloebury. However, Douglas Payne in his book A View of Lydiard Millicent, describes him as a well-intentioned but sick man. Cloebury was a fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford and appears to have been relatively wealthy.

At least, he was prepared to spend some of his own money on rebuilidng the ruinous rectory.

His new rectory, today’s Old Rectory, cost £4460 to build. Of this, Cloebury contributed £2760, with the balance coming from the Queen Anne’s Bounty and another source (possibly Rev. McKnight, his curate). A stained glass window in The Old Rectory still bears Pembroke College’s coat of arms, a tribute to Cloebury’s college and patron. The rectory gardens also reflect his vision. Cloebury gave McKnight £200 to spend on trees, and included unusual varieties of oak and exotic species in his planting scheme.

Cloebury was rector for eleven years. He appears to have been a charitable man, and interested in the affairs of the village. He bequethed £100 to the parish, to be held in trust, the interest to be distribute annually to the poor and needy. The Cloebury charity was active in the village until relatively recently.

Times change. It is hard to guess what Rev. Cloebury would have thought of the reincarnation of his home into Melinda Manor.

More recently, the pictures of The Old Rectory in Humbert’s brochure show an English country garden at its best. There’s a riot of foliage, lush herbaceous borders, pots of lavender, and a pond bestrewn with water lilies.

It takes a leap of imagination to see the world through the eyes of a nineteenth century clergyman. Somehow though, I think Cloebury would approve.

All pictures @Humberts, reproduced here with thanks. You can view the full sale particulars for The Old Rectory on Humberts’ website.

Residents are invited to “a public consultation event” to hear about a developer’s plans to build up to 60 new homes in Lydiard Millicent.

Custom Land are organising the event, which will take place on 14th July in the Parish Hall, between 7.30 and 9.30pm.

Custom Land was recently unsuccessful in its application to build four homes off the Mews. However, its latest plans are far more extensive and encompass the land to the south of the original site, bordering Meadow Springs and Badger’s Brook. The developer has yet to lodge a formal application, so the planned event is an opportunity for villagers to find out what is going on and to make their views known.

Custom Land’s previous application was vigourously opposed by local residents and the Parish Council. It failed, largely on the technical grounds that it did not constitute “infill.” However, the case law on housing need continues to develop, as does the politcial and social pressure for more homes. The draft neighbourhood plan for Lydiard shows other preferred areas for development and stresses the need to preserve a rural buffer from Swindon. However, the implosion of the neighbourhood planning process means the neighbourhood plan remains unadopted, and won’t be taken into account when any application is considered.

Star Planning’s application attracted 38 objections, including one from the Parish Council. The most common grounds for objection were highway issues and lack of parking, ecological issues, bin storage, and the risk of coalescence with Swindon.

None of these were considered a bar to the development in themselves. However, the Council still chose to refuse the application. It took the view the proposals would not promote a sustainable pattern of development. It also found them inconsistent with Wiltshire’s Core Strategy.

Under Wiltshire’s Core Strategy, Lydiard Millicent no longer has a defined settlement boundary. However, it is classified as “a small village.” This means that, generally, any development should be confined to infill within the existing built-up area. Under the Core Strategy, infill is defined as “the filling of a small gap within the village that is only large enough for not more than a few dwellings, generally only one dwelling.” The Council took the view that the developer’s proposals for four houses on the site were more than just infill.

Other arguments put forward by the developer were also unsuccessful.

In some situations, development will be permitted, even in the case of a small village, and even where the proposals go beyond infill. There remains a presumption in favour of sustainable development, and Wiltshire’s Core Strategy says that development will be supported where it seeks to meet local housing needs, provided other conditions are met.

In the Mews case, the developer argued its proposals would help meet that housing need. However, the Council did not accept this argument. Instead, it took the view that any shortfall would be met from other, allocated, sites. It also considered that, in any case, any contribution made by the proposed development would be insignificant in its impact on housing supply. In short, the development’s potential benefits did not outweigh other policy factors, which operate to protect the distinct nature of Lydiard as a small village.

In reaching their decision, Wiltshire Council appear to have been influenced by a recent Court of Appeal judgment, which (hopefully) may restore some clarity to the complex relationship between housing supply and planning policy.

In the past, several developers have successfully challenged planning refusals where the local authority could not demonstrate an adequate five-year supply of land for housing. Not only is there a presumption in favour of sustainable development, the National Planning Policy Framework says relevant policies should not be considered up-to-date if the local authority cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites” (NPPF, paragraph 49).

In practice, this has sometimes made it harder for local authorities to rely upon policies which could restrict housing growth. For example, Wiltshire’s failure to show an adequate five-year supply of land for housing was instrumental in Gleeson Home’s success in Calne. Despite initial refusal and strong local opposition, permission was given on appeal for a 125 home development.

Significantly, however, the judgment also confirms that it is down to local authorities to determine how much weight to attach to policies that are not up-to-date. Wiltshire Council appear to have relied upon this reasoning in deciding the Mews application. In their view, there are still sufficient grounds for refusing the application, notwithstanding they cannot demonstrate a five-year land supply for housing.

Do you walk your dog at Lydiard Park? Or do you have strong views about other people’s dogs, and their antics?

If so, you may be interested in Swindon Council’s latest proposals to restrict dogs at Lydiard Park.

Even if you aren’t particularly bothered about dogs, but care about access to public spaces, and their increasing regulation, you may want to take a closer look at Swindon Council’s proposed Lydiard Park Public Space Protection Order.

If implemented, the proposals would see two restrictions placed on dogs, and their owners.

First, dogs would be excluded from the walled garden and rick yard area. Secondly, during the period 1 April to 30 September, dogs would have to be kept on leads (of less than two metres in length) in the area of the park shown cross-hatched in red on the plan to the left.

The restrictions, if implemented, will not apply to registered assistance dogs.

Swindon Council say the restrictions are necessary so that people can enjoy the most popular areas of the park without the threat of anti-social behaviour. The Council says it has received several complaints about out-of-control dogs, and that the measures “are designed to make sure boisterous and excitable dogs don’t spoil the enjoyment of the park for families and other groups enjoying barbeques, picnics or those playing sports.”

However, not everyone believes that public space protection orders are the correct approach. The Kennel Club and RSPCA both advise caution in their use, whilst civil liberties groups see the orders as another example of the state’s enchroachment on the freedom of individuals to access, and use, public spaces.

Restrictions already apply on where you can take your dog in Lydiard Park, so why make a new order?

Swindon, like a number of other local authorities, possibly sees the orders as a solution to increasing levels of anti-social behaviour. It recently introduced one to the town centre, outlawing certain activities, which controversially included chalking on pavements.

Public Space Protection Orders are made under the Anti Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. In theory, so far as dogs are concerned, they replace the old dog control orders. However, Swindon Borough Council chose not to make any orders under the previous legislation as it did not “want to adopt powers like requiring dogs to be kept on leads” (Cabinet minutes, 22 November, 2011). So the proposed order is a significant change of approach.

It is already open to the Council, as the land owner, to restrict or place conditions on access to Lydiard Park. Dogs are currently not allowed in the children’s play area, playing fields, Lydiard House, the walled garden, cafe and in-door area of the Tea Room. However, the order would effectively criminalise any breach of the restrictions. It would also allow council staff, those authorised by the council, the police and police community support officers to issue fixed penalty fines of £100.

Laws already exist to control and limit dangerous dogs, or behaviour that is irresponsible or a nuisance. However, the order would provide a quick and relatively easy method of enforcement, in much the same way as a fixed penalty parking fine. But is it a proportionate solution for having your dog off the lead in the wrong bit of the park?

Views will vary. However, you can have your say through the on-line survey at Swindon Council’s website. The consultation closes on 5th July 2016.

The Jubilee Club House was the scene of heated debate over the future development of Lydiard Millicent.

Local resident, Mike Sharp, organised the meeting for Wednesday evening to discuss Star Planning’s latest proposals for land at the end of the Mews, by the Orchards.

Following an initial, low key, drop-in session last month, Star Planning have now submitted a formal application for planning permission to build “up to four dwellings” on the land.

The latest application

The immediate application is for outline planning permission, which would give consent in principle for for up to four houses to be built. You can view these on Wiltshire Council’s website.

Although some layout plans and landscaping particulars accompany the application, these are for illustrative purposes only. Should permission be granted, it would then be down to the developer to specify the type of houses, their design and layout, when they go back to the Council for approval of reserved matters.

Some feel that this makes it difficult to assess how the prospective development would look on the ground, or what its actual impact would be. For example, the reality “on the ground” of four four-bed houses could be very different from a mixed development of bungalows and starter homes. However, the developer considers that the illustrations should give sufficient information to allow the application to be determined. In material terms, they say, it should make little difference in terms of trafiic flow.

Wider concerns

During Wednesday’s meeting, however, residents also voiced concern over possible plans to build up to 35 new homes on the land immediately to the south of the application site. They feared such plans would impact negatively on Lydiard’s village feel and encouarge coalesence with Swindon. As access, prospectively, would be off Meadow Springs or Holborn, some residents also feared that wider plans to develop this area could result in increased traffic and the creation of a “rat run” from Swindon.

The land, immediately to the south and south-east of the application site, is believed to be in the same ownership as the application site.

No application has been made in respect of the wider site yet. However, one local drew attention to the site survey and aboricultural report accompanying the application. Both relate to a much larger area than the original application, and the initial ecological appraisal is headed “Lydiard Millicent, North Phase.”

David Barnes of Star Planning said no decision had been made in respect of the larger site, but that all the options were “being looked at, at the moment.”

Objections to the immediate proposals

During the course of the meeting, residents expressed a number of concerns. These included;

During the meeting, a number of residents mentioned the emergent neighbourhood plan.

The draft neighbourhood plan for Lydiard Millicent sets out the type of housing residents would like to see (bungalows, smaller properties) and location. One of its guiding principles is that the community in Lydiard Millicent should retain its own idenity and remain a separate village, avoiding coalescence with Swindon.

Where there is an adopted neighbourhood plan, planners have to take account of it.

Work started on Lydiard Millicent’s neighbourhood plan in 2011. Lydiard’s draft Chapter of the Neighbourhood Plan was finalised in 2014. However, over two years later, the neighbourhood plan is still no closer to adoption. This means it will be unable to influence decisions over developments such as the one proposed at the Mews.